Lt. Governor Used Origins as Inspiration During Women in Business Conference

OCEAN CITY – It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. At the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce’s 12th Annual Women in Business Conference, a well-known mother and political leader regaled the audience. 
She told how concerns over her children’s safety led her to become the second highest official in New Jersey, and might lead her to the governorship.
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, also a gubernatorial hopeful, was the keynote speaker at the March 2 conference. This year’s theme focused on how to empower women and increase their engagement not only with their businesses but with their community.
Issues Discussed
Dr. Dianna Deignan, whose office is in Court House and who is a member of the Cape Regional Physician Associates, spoke about the need to balance work and one’s personal life.
Following her was Maggie Warner, public relations officer for Morey’s Piers and Beachfront Water Parks. She addressed the benefits for businesses that create a culture of volunteerism within their organization.
A panel of business women from companies ranging from three to 26,000 employees covered topics that included how to field employee input, how to compensate volunteers, and how to say no once in a while to the avalanche of demands that can descend upon a leader.
The panel was made up of Barbara Jones from ServPro (Cape May and Cumberland counties), Aimee Schultz of JASM Consulting of Ocean City, Veronica “Ronnie” Town of Atlantic City Electric, and was moderated by Warner.
After a presentation about networking led by Andy Zinsmeister of Dale Carnegie Training, it was Cape May County Surrogate M. Susan Sheppard’s turn to discuss the importance of wills, powers of attorney, and living wills.
The speaker before Guadagno was Anne Maiese from the League of Women Voters of New Jersey. Maiese related a story from her career about the moment she experienced a greater sense of empowerment through political engagement.
A Bittersweet Need 
“It is a shame that we still have to have conferences like this,” mused Guadagno as she strolled, microphone in hand, among the crowd of white tablecloths and members.
If the intention was to connect to the audience as quickly as possible, Guadagno appeared to have achieved her goal. Her opening statement put many into a period of reflection.
Quoting The New York Times, Guadagno repeated the claim that there were “more men named John running Fortune 500 companies than the total amount of women” doing the same. Heads shook, and a few murmurs of discontent were heard.
“Something about what we, as women, are doing is wrong,” she stated. And that was why she inferred, conferences like the one she was addressing, were necessary.
It Began With a Bus Dispute
In 2005, a mother and professional woman from Monmouth Beach was not happy, not one bit. The beginning of the school year left her children having to cross a dangerously busy road by themselves to get their school bus.
Guadagno, at that point a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey, who dealt with gangsters and hardened criminals, was not about to let her displeasure remain unheard.
Later that year she won an election for a seat as a commissioner on Monmouth Beach’s non-partisan governing body.
Two years later she was sheriff of Monmouth County, a job she found fulfilling and emotionally trying. Guadagno told the audience how she cried after having to lay off 64 sheriff’s officers in one day.
The Phone Call
In July 2009, Guadagno got a phone call from Republican candidate for governor Chris Christie. He asked her to be his running mate.
“Are you sure you want me?” Guadagno jokingly told the audience she thought to herself at the time.
Upon winning the election, Christie told Guadagno that she would be the state’s first lieutenant governor, which also included a role as Secretary of State. The incoming governor, according to Guadagno, asked one thing of her.
“I want my lieutenant governor to be in charge of creating and bringing jobs to New Jersey,” Christie said.
The numbers reported by the Star-Ledger, and repeated by Guadagno appeared to offer signs of her success.
In 2009, New Jersey lost 117,000 jobs and had an unemployment rate of 9.8 percent. Since 2010, again according to the Star-Ledger, New Jersey has added over 281,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate for the state sits at 4.7 percent.
“And I know it is much higher in Cape May County,” said Guadagno.
The financial morass in which New Jersey found itself in 2009 motivated her to visit over 100 businesses within two years.
Wherever she went as Christie’s “job czarina,” she gave out her cell phone number, especially to small business people.
“I have the hardest time getting in touch with small businesses. You are all too busy just trying to survive,” Guadagno said to chuckles and nodding heads. So, she once more gave out her phone number.
A Taxing Situation
New Jerseyans pay the third most in taxes nationwide, according to a Market Watch survey. It is behind first-place New York and then Connecticut. It is a burden for every taxpayer, homeowner, and business owner in and possibly outside of the state.
Guadagno told the audience she was all too aware of how a high tax rate was detrimental to the state’s economic health.
“How do you pitch a business to come to New Jersey and then say, ‘Oh, by the way, we have the highest tax rate?’” Guadagno rhetorically queried.
Calling herself the “one-stop shop” for promoting New Jersey as a place to do business, Guadagno recalled how she had helped create public-private partnerships for job creation using a 501(c)3 so as to avoid the use of taxpayer money.
Incentive and credit programs were also started up to foster a better business creation environment.
In the end, Guadagno said it was up to them to do something good, not only for their respective businesses but also for their communities and state.
She asked the attendees to help make her aware of issues or people who may have fallen through the cracks.
“We all believe that being able to do our job is important,” she said. And if that involved learning how not to let the government get in the way or how to better use its’ resources, than it was a lesson that had to be learned … and quickly.
To contact Christopher Knoll, email cknoll@cmcherald.com.